Government launches fund to create new private sector jobs

A series of road shows have been launched by Lord Heseltine on the 12th May in a bid to promote the second round of the Regional Growth Fund.
Companies and organisations are being encouraged to compete for a share of £950m.

The fund has been designed to support projects which drive sustainable economic growth, create new jobs and help communities which are currently heavily dependent on the public sector.

The first road show takes place in Margate, Kent, where Lord Heseltine will speak about the importance of economic growth and the role of the Regional Growth Fund. He will then take questions about the process of submitting high-quality bids that offer the potential to create new jobs.

More than 150 businesses and organisations are expected to attend the event at Margate’s Winter Garden and more than 1,000 are expected to attend the series of road shows over the next few weeks.

The Regional Growth Fund has been designed to:
• provide support for projects that can drive sustainable economic growth and create new private sector jobs; and
• particularly help communities that are currently dependent on the public sector make the transition to private sector-led growth and prosperity.
Lord Heseltine is Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel, which will consider all bids for funding and make recommendations to Ministers, led by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, about which should be supported. He is supported by Deputy Chair, Sir Ian Wrigglesworth and a team of academics, business and civic leaders.

Lord Heseltine said: “The Regional Growth Fund was exceptionally popular in the first round, and we received many bids that demonstrated strategic thinking on how to create jobs and contribute to local economies.
“I hope businesses and public-private partnerships are inspired to think about innovative and creative ways of making a difference to growth and shaping their economic future, and that we will see results of this thinking when we are assessing bids.
“The road shows are an excellent opportunity for potential bidders to find out more information about ensuring bids meet the objectives and criteria. I urge all those interested to ask questions, and get as much out of these events as possible.”
The second round of the Regional Growth Fund opened to bids on April 12 and will close at midday on July 1. The second round will aim to allocate around £950m – the bulk of the £1.4bn fund.

Ministers announced in April that there were 50 successful bidders from the first round of the Regional Growth Fund. These bidders will share £450m if they pass a process of due diligence

Source: NDS

Looking for Management training? Then visit http://www.jml-training.com/

Employee Engagement

A new Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report published on the 11th May 2011 delves deep into the issue of employee engagement. It acknowledges that employee engagement is an important driver of sustainable organisation performance, but goes further by exploring 'what' employees engage with and 'where' in the organisation their focus of engagement is located, or what is their 'locus of engagement'.

Locus of engagement: Understanding what employees connect with at work, produced for the CIPD by the Kingston Engagement Consortium, finds that despite the plethora of research around the issue of employee engagement, very little attention has as yet been paid to what exactly it is employees engage with. An analysis of their research data provides evidence not only that employees engage with a variety of different aspects of their work, but that these vary both in depth and intensity over time and can impact on organisational performance.

Engagement was identified as a major driver of performance in the CIPD Shaping the Future research programme, but evidence was also suggesting that over-engagement with particular facets of the job could impact negatively on organisational agility and flexibility. And data collected from the organisations taking part in the Kingston Engagement Consortium reveals interesting variations in the locus of engagement, defined as that particular location in which engagement exists for a person while at work:

• Highest engagement - with the job: variety, autonomy and meaningfulness are important
• Engagement with line manager and colleagues - high: ability to voice concerns and working with good colleagues are critical factors
• Engagement with the organisation - moderate: being well treated and company reputation were positives, but for some the motivation was financial
• Lowest engagement - with individuals outside the organisation: highly dependent on specific jobs

The data reveals that higher engagement with any locus correlates positively with higher task performance and citizenship behaviour, although there is a significant degree of variation.

Angela Baron, engagement and organisational development adviser, CIPD, says: "Organisations currently face a number of challenges stemming from the ongoing economic difficulties following the recent financial crisis and subsequent squeeze on public sector expenditure. Our Shaping the Future report identified that engagement of employees will be crucial to organisations facing the economic challenges ahead while maintaining organisational functioning, but that an important aspect of engagement had been largely overlooked - the locus.

"Managers need to get behind the engagement score to really get to grips with what button to press to trigger employee engagement if they are to truly drive competitive advantage through their people. They need to understand that engagement is not static and occurs in a context that will impact on perceptions of fairness and the ability to harness engagement and translate it into sustainable organisation performance. This research is an important first step in understanding how to engage and energise employees to reap organisational benefits."

This is the third in a series of reports for the CIPD from the Kingston Engagement Consortium research programme. Formed in 2006, the consortium brings together organisations which are actively implementing engagement management programmes to raise engagement and establish a culture where engagement can flourish.

Source CIPD

Looking for Management training? Then visit http://www.jml-training.com/

CIPD launches consultation on revised code of conduct

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has published a revised code of professional conduct, which has been issued for consultation on the 11th May 2011 - CIPD consults on revised Code of Professional Conduct

They state that clear expected standards of ethics, integrity, behaviour and competence lie at the heart of a revised Code of Professional Conduct issued for consultation by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) today (11th May 2011).

The consultation process on a revised Code, designed to better reflect the world as it is today, post-financial crisis, comes at a time when there are widespread questions being raised about confidence in business as a whole. The CIPD maintains a Code of Professional Conduct to ensure members are held to account for behaviour and actions that fall below the standards it contains. The CIPD's existing Code of Conduct remains in force during the consultation on the revised draft Code. Hearings on alleged breaches of the Code are heard by a panel of experienced HR professionals, drawn from the Institute's professional conduct committee.

Launching the consultation, Jackie Orme, CIPD Chief Executive, said:
"CIPD membership is a trusted and respected benchmark of HR professionalism. We've already completed thorough reviews of professional standards and entry requirements. The time is now right to review and update our Code of Conduct, to ensure it remains relevant to the world as it is today, particularly in the context of an ongoing crisis of confidence in business as a whole, post-financial crash.

"We're clear that HR has a central role in delivering the sustainable performance organisations strive for. But to fulfil that role, we need to be confident we have a responsible HR profession, capable of safeguarding its own standards of ethics, integrity, behaviour and competence. A revised CIPD Code of Professional Conduct will give us the tools to support the profession in that task.

"We've already consulted closely with the profession in developing the new draft Code. We've drawn on detailed focus groups to incorporate extensive feedback from HR professionals. Over the coming months we'll be consulting on the current draft, ready to approve a final, revised Code in the autumn. We look forward to receiving feedback from the profession to help us complete our review."

Responses to the consultation are invited by 15 July. A revised Code of Conduct is due to be approved by the Board of the CIPD in the autumn of 2011

Source CIPD

Looking for Management training? Then visit http://www.jml-training.com/

Local Government elections results in England means new Councillors need training

On Thursday May 5th 2011 local elections took place in England. The results mean that there are hundred of newly elected councilors up and down the country, many have no experience in Local Government and need professional training. Read the rest of this report by following the link below

Local Government elections results in England means new Councillors need training

Employers less likely to cut jobs during the recent downturn, but curtailed wage budgets

ILM - Institute of Leadership and Management's newsroom has run a report on the 3rd May 2011 "Companies 'struggling to offer pay rises"

Employers were less likely to cut jobs during the recent downturn, but this is now having an impact on the salaries of their workers, according to the Higher Education Careers Services Unit.

Charlie Ball, deputy director of research at the organisation, said in previous recessions, companies cut staff numbers and then struggled to recover once economic conditions improved.

"They have learned their lessons from that period; when the recession ended many of them found they didn't have the talent to capitalise on improved conditions, so their own corporate recoveries were quite slow," he explained.

In contrast, during the recent downturn, companies aimed to avoid large scale redundancies, but Bell added that this has "curtailed wage budgets and training opportunities".

His comments come after research by XpertHR found that pay awards fell in the first quarter of 2011, despite increased pressure on salaries.

The number of pay freezes also rose in April and accounted for 24.7% of deals in the month, up from 9.2% in March

The Institute of Leadership and Management is the UK's premier management organisation.

Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) bring you news and information about research and development in career-related learning and career guidance in Higher Education.

If you want to keep your workforce fully trained and working for your organisation to provide growth in todays market, then make sure you invest in Business Management Training now.

Visit http://www.jml-training.com for the UK or http://www.midas-training-france.com for areas outside the UK

Business Management Training in France from jml Training

jml Training is now increasing it’s coverage of Business Management training for companies in France and other European countries with the additional service of the training being delivered in French and other languages.

Read all of this news relaese from jml Training by clicking on the link below

Business Management Training France from jml Training

Unemployment figures bring further good economic news so carry on training your staff

The CIPD has just issued a Press Release following the official labour market statistics published earlier today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the 13th April 2011.

Unemployment figures bring further good economic news - but jobs outlook remains uncertain, says CIPD - Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) commented below:

"It's clearly good news week for the UK economy. The inflation rate is down, unemployment is down, and pay pressure is down. However, while the jobs figures are apparently signalling green for go, they reflect an improvement in the labour market at the turn of the year and don't tell us anything much about the road ahead. Indeed, the most up to date figures for vacancies and claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance suggest that labour market conditions softened again in the early spring and it remains likely that unemployment will start to rise again later this year.

"Especially welcome in today's figures is a substantial rise in the number of people working full-time, although this was still insufficient to prevent a further increase in the number of people working part-time who would prefer a full-time job.

"The easing in pay pressure suggests that fears of an inflationary pay-price spiral remain unwarranted. This may be bad news for workers who are suffering a big squeeze on real earnings but is very good news for interest rate setters at the Bank of England and for the wider economy."

Above info source CIPD

So it is good news that there is a substantial rise in people working full time. Regardless of course whether employees are working full time or part time they should still be properly trained to ensure they are working efficiently.

Money spent on training and development and coaching is essential to an organisation's growth. For information on jml's Training Service Click Here

Local Government Councillor Training and Development

Local Government elections in England take place on Thursday 5th May 2011. There will bound to be a lot of changes of councillors and jml Training and Consultancy can offer in-house traing services for these new representatives.

jml Training has a long and successful history of working with local government. We deliver bespoke training that is relevant, results oriented and cost-effective. Our trainers and coaches work with members from across the political spectrum and with officers, from junior to the most senior level. This experience enables us to deliver first class training and support across local government.

The aim of all our training with councillors is to increase their confidence, competence and personal effectiveness as a result of our training input.

We recognise that councillors have very busy and demanding lives and that training and development has got to be responsive to this. We have a flexible approach to workshop duration and timings, recognising that afternoons and evenings or Saturdays are most suitable for council members.

Training and support for council members
• New councillor induction training
• Facilitated workshops and team building for individual council groups
• Skills training courses and workshops
• Developing women leaders programme
• One to one coaching to address specific development needs identified in individual development plans

We provide a wide range of skills training:
• Organisational skills – planning, time and meeting management
• Enhancing communication skills including listening and interpersonal skills
• Developing influencing and negotiating skills
• Resolving conflict and personal safety skills
• Presentation, public speaking skills and media skills
• Equalities and diversity awareness
• Building positive working relationships with officers
• Overview and scrutiny skills
• Running successful surgeries
• Understanding Council finances

Our approach

Self-awareness - we aim to build a level of self-awareness and reflection into all our work to enhance the effectiveness of the training.
Practical Solutions - we try to ensure that positive action and change occur as a result of our input. We use concepts and strategies that operate in the real world - not just in handouts.
Communication - we believe that effective communication is a key issue underlying the success of any organisation and try to build an appreciation of this into all our work.

Our training style

Our aim through out all our training is to enable participants to feel empowered by the process. We hope the training is enjoyable, energising and empowering. Our training approach is highly interactive. We base our training on experiential learning and take into account personal learning styles when designing all our courses and programmes. We also believe that learning is most successful in a relaxed environment; our trainers are highly competent at creating a supportive learning environment that ensures attendance is worthwhile and an effective use of time.

Recent participants have said about us…

“Has had a real impact on how confident I feel dealing with issues”

“Feel so much more confident about how to influence my colleagues”

“Brought home the importance of thinking and planning my workload, and now I have the tools to do that!”

“Gained confidence and how to pace and deliver effectively”

Email: enquiries or call us on 01494 488787 to discuss your requirements or visit http://www.jml-training.com/local_government_training.htm

BNU - Bucks New University and Premier IT announcePRINCE2 Project Management Residential Programme

On the 31st March 2011 Premier IT was delighted to announce the introduction of residential PRINCE2® training to its project management certification portfolio, delivered in partnership with New Buckinghamshire University (BNU) as part of a new PRINCE2 Project Management Residential Programme.

The Programme offers delegates the opportunity to attain a PRINCE2 qualification without a daily commute and outside distractions. The partnership combines the skills of Premier IT trainers with the stunning venue and prestige of the University to deliver unrivalled PRINCE2 training with the additional incentive of receiving an academic Project Management Award.

Once delegates have passed their PRINCE2 exams they are offered the opportunity to receive the University's Project Management Award by writing and submitting a reflective log for a project they have conducted after their course. This unique combination of professional certification and academic award sets us apart from other residential project management training providers.

The residential PRINCE2 courses will take place at the University's stunning Missenden Abbey Conference Centre in 2011.

The Premier IT residential PRINCE2 training courses include the same excellent, comprehensive and high quality material as a non-residential PRINCE2 training course. The added bonus is that they have a higher first time pass rate owing to a more intensive learning experience, where learners and trainers have additional time to collaborate and share real world examples of implementing the PRINCE2 methodology. Alternatively delegates are still able to attend the course on a non-residential basis.

Ian West, Chairman, Premier IT says: "we are delighted to form a solid partnership with a prestigious University to offer our delegates that little bit extra when it comes to attaining their PRINCE2 qualification.

More information about Premier IT

Premier IT is a workforce performance improvement specialist. We deliver a wide range of IT and learning solutions to over 500 clients across London and the UK. These include:

• Professional Development Software We are a market leader of professional development software solutions to professional institutes, Royal Colleges, membership bodies and educational establishments. We currently enable tens of thousands of members and employees, across more than 40 clients, to conduct their professional development online through the use of CPD, e-Portfolio and Multi Source Feedback systems

• IT & Business Skills Training We have a wealth of experience in providing first class IT and business training solutions to a wide variety of organisations throughout the UK. In the past two years alone we have delivered almost 25,000 student training days!

• NHS Training & Development We are a highly experienced provider of training and development solutions to the NHS. Our services are in use at NHS Trusts all over London and nationwide.

• Cloud Computing & IT Support We specialise in providing IT network support and security services to organisations in London and across the UK. Our in-house team of qualified and experienced IT engineers can assist with your strategic IT planning, as well as take ownership of your day to day IT issues.

More Information about Bucks New University

It is the only publicly-funded higher education institution in Buckinghamshire. The main university is in High Wycombe, Bucks with the Nursing Division located in Uxbridge, Middx. See also: Feedback on evaluation forms from Bucks New University (BNU) Equal Opportunities in Selection Interviewing Course delivered by jml Training and Consultancy

Institute of Directors poll shows Budget has boosted business confidence

26th March 2011 - Following the UK Budget on Wednesday 23rd March, The IOD - Institute of Directors issued this News Release - The survey for the News Release below of 620IoD members was conducted from 23 March until 25 March.

Business confidence in the UK’s economic outlook has been boosted significantly by the Budget, according to a survey of 620 members of the Institute of Directors (IoD). 58 per cent of company directors say they are now more confident about the long-term economic outlook of the economy as a result of the Budget, with only 9 per cent feeling less confident. The poll also reveals that a large majority of IoD members believe the Government’s economic leadership is sound and that the Chancellor’s Budget will have a positive impact on their businesses, as well as the wider economy. Key points from the survey of 620 company directors Business confidence in the Government’s economic policy:

•58 per cent are more confident about the long-term economic outlook of the economy as a result of the Budget, with only 9 per cent feeling less confident. •69 per cent believe George Osborne is doing a good job running the economy as Chancellor. 14 per cent do not think George Osborne is doing a good job.

Positive impact on wider economy:

•70 per cent believe the Budget will have a positive impact on the economy, with only 6 per cent believing it will have a negative impact.

Positive impact on IoD members’ companies:

•55 per cent believe the Budget will have a positive impact on their business, with only 8 per cent believing it will have a negative impact.

Views on some specific Budget measures:

•93 per cent believe that reducing the main corporation tax rate to 26p this year and 23p by 2014 will be positive for the economy, with 74 per cent stating that it will be positive for their businesses. •43 per cent think the increase in the lifetime limit for entrepreneurs’ relief from £5m to £10m will be positive for their businesses. •48 per cent think the improvement to the capital allowances for short-life assets will be positive for their businesses. •81 per cent think that increasing the limits for investment under the Enterprise Investment Scheme is a positive step. •65 per cent think moving an increase in fuel duty to an increased tax on North Sea oil production when the oil price is high is a positive step.

Commenting on the survey, Graeme Leach, Chief Economist and Director of Policy at the Institute of Directors, said: “The economic recovery is fragile so it is good news that business leaders have responded so positively to the Budget. At a time when confidence could make the difference between recession and recovery, the IoD’s Policy Voice survey suggests that the Budget has improved the outlook for business investment. And at a time when international developments are making people worried, the Chancellor has helped steady nerves at home.”

Source: IOD Now the budget has taken place, have you arranged your training for the next financial year? At jml Training and Consultancy we offer an excellent selection of "in-house" training courses designed for your organisation. For more information visit jml -training courses and if the course you are looking for is not there, just let us know and we will try to assist.